A Poor Wise Man

y Cardew, "the last of the Ca

to your mother's determination to shroud this room in i

club that afternoon, where every day from four to six he played bridge with his own little group, reactionaries like himself, men who viewed the difficulties

uired, "how does it

ly. He was sometimes most

sure, gra

re abou

erybody, of course. But wh

forgiving her. "You'll find plenty.

ifferent, g

had a war. We've had other wars, and we didn't think it necessary to change the Constitution after them. But everything that wa

to arouse a controvers

aid it, Lily immediately believed it. She felt suddenly fired wi

fixed her with cold

ot at all sure what she meant. And old Antho

He is full of them. If he had his way I'd have a board of m

ose folds of faded blue Italian velvet, with old silver candle sconces at irregular intervals along the walls. The great table and high-backed chairs were likewise Italian, and the old-

derately, in a light frock and slippers. But she watched it all with a new interest and a certain detachment. She felt strange and aloof, not entirely one of them. She felt very keenly that no one

ind the little man with the sardonic smile and the swift unpleasant humor, whose glance reduced the men who served into terrified menials? Her big, blond father, with his rather slow speech, his hone

because they loved greatly. Like Aunt Elinor. Aunt Elinor had loved her husband more than she had loved her child. Quite calmly Lily decided that, as between her husband and herself,

of remembering things, suddenly bent forw

itions as wrong, and, I inferred, wrong because of my mishandl

say they were

you have no answer and no remedy. Yet, heaven save the country, women are going to

sn't it

e food is

from th

e broke into a cold fury. What had come over the world, anyhow? Time was when a gentleman's servan

ed to find some comfort there. And Lily, sorry for her

randfather. And service, in your s

ho said that? Because I d

I knew

at

was Will

lified to speak? Does he know anything

a lot abo

rest in the sources of your political opinions. They will probably, like your father's, differ from mine. You may not know that your father has not only opinions, but ambitions." She saw Grace st

would ever come to her. She rather thought not. But she was also conscious of a new attitude among the three at the table, her mother's tense wat

e purpose other than graft," said Howard. "I am goi

r views, or perhaps I should say, in Willy Cameron's. Does y

you be elec

ause my nam

hony ch

at the mill? And the laundries for the women-which I believe they do not

sir." Howard, in his forties, sti

it your defea

er a formidab

t this is a matter of a principle with your father. He believes that he should serve. My whole contention is that the people don't want to be served. T

and sipped

'm buying all I can lay my hands o

mellow, like old wine. And-what was she going to do with herself? Already the atmosphere of the house b

her own awkwardness annoyed her. In the dining room she could hear the men talking, Howard quietly, his father in short staccato barks.

s, mother," she said, "I don't know what to do wi

of course," Grace said. "Lent, and then so many of

e just co

And there will be small dinners. You'll have to get some clo

why doesn't he want fath

hesi

thing. But I don't know anythin

keep him from

dly think he would oppose him. I reall

Well, I do, mother. He has run every

il

s badly governed, and that he is responsible. And now he is going to fight his own son! The

y toward the door. "You ar

u d

And I only go onc

arried a poor man,

is running a Socialist newspaper, and now he is inciting the mill men to

an by terrible

tion. I believe he calls it a general st

ondere

is it? But even then-is all this beca

elieves what he preaches. He ought to be put into jail. Why the coun

else Willy Cameron had sai

nd now we've got free speech. And one's as bad as the

ht fire, its bed neatly turned down, her dressing gown and slippers laid out, the shaded lamps shining on the gold and ivory of her dressing table, she was conscious of a sudden homesickness. Homesickness for her bare little room in the

ed for those men who might look up at the sky, or down at the earth, but never out and across, to see the spring trees, for instance, or the children playing on the grass.

lking the Military Police, doing forbidden things generally. Was that, after all, what freedom meant, to do the forbidden thing? Those people in

d she rang her bell, a

e to bed," she said. "If she has

oked slight

ardew has asked me to look after you

lly. "I rather like doing it myse

er scandalized Castle who co